Solar tariff is bizarre: group The Courier 10/05/2008 - "ELEMENTS of the Victorian Government's new solar power feed-in tariff were 'bizarre' , the Ballarat Renewable Energy and Zero Emissions group vice-president said this week.
'The figures just don't add up in the residents' favour,' Lisa Kendal said.
The government has proposed paying households with photovoltaic systems 60c for every "unused" kilowatt hour of power fed back into the state electricity grid.

The feed-in tariff - while almost four times the current retail electricity price - will not apply to household solar systems greater than two kilowatts in capacity. But Ms Kendal said it was unlikely most households would generate surplus electricity unless they had a system larger than two kilowatts………

………..In South Australia the minimum solar feed-in tariff is 44c a kilowatt hour but this is payable on systems up to 10 kilowatts in size.

Taxpayers cut BHP fuel bills CATHY ALEXANDER (AAP), CANBERRA The Advertiser 06 May 2008 - "State TAXPAYERS will subsidise the fuel bill of mining giant BHP Billiton by more than $100 million to help it work the world's largest uranium deposit, a conservation group claims. State TAXPAYERS will subsidise the fuel bill of mining giant BHP Billiton by more than $100 million to help it work the world's largest uranium deposit, a conservation group claims. ....

...............The foundation estimates the subsidy will be worth $29 million a year to BHP to expand Olympic Dam, where the company also mines the world's fourth largest remaining copper deposit. ``BHP does not need you and me to subsidise their diesel,'' ACF executive director Don Henry said...............

............The subsidy would be worth $117 million over the life of the study, ACF said.
Mr Henry said the fuel tax credits scheme would cost the Government $4.9 billion a year.
He has called on the Government to scrap the subsidy for the mining and transport sectors in next week's Budget although it should be retained for farmers.
The money saved could be redirected to public transport

BHP denies dam project delays

Herald Sun Christopher Russell and Nick Henderson May 02, 2008 - "BHP Billiton and the South Australian Government have been forced to scotch rumours of major doubts and delays over the Olympic Dam expansion.
The company said it was on schedule with its planning for the expansion of the copper-gold-uranium mine. Planning was more complicated than first anticipated…………

……….The rumours - reported on a Sydney website and then raised by SA Opposition Leader Martin Hamilton-Smith on ABC radio yesterday - said the project was plagued by problems and cost blowouts.

These included that the mine might not go ahead as an open-cut but would only be an expanded underground operation.

The rumours said costs of the pre-feasibility study, under which the company is considering all its options, had increased substantially and that BHP chief executive Marius Kloppers had refused to meet the extra costs...................................".

Fuel subsidies attacked ahead of Budget News.com.au 27 April 08 - 'THE Federal Government is being urged to scrap billions of dollars in subsidies to the fossil fuel industry ahead of likely cuts to education and health in next month's Budget....

.........community advocacy group GetUp says the Government should first consider cutting billions of dollars worth of subsidies to the fossil fuel industry...................'The $4 billion in subsidies to the fossil fuel industry - they are wasteful and inappropriate in the context of the climate crisis that we're facing,' GetUp executive director Greg Solomon said.
'Hidden within the budget are these anachronistic subsidies for the fossil fuel industry and they should be redirected, partly to investment in renewable energy'

In a budget submission released today, GetUp says scrapping subsidies to the mining industry alone would save the federal government $257 million a year.

'Why is it that we're subsidising the mining industry - surely that industry is able to stand on its own two feet in the context of a resources boom' Mr Solomon said.
'All of the polling we've done shows that the Australian community supports renewable energy being subsidised over the fossil fuel industry'............................................................."

ERA says rains to lead to lower Q2 uranium output SYDNEY, April 15 (Reuters) - "Rio Tinto Ltd unit Energy Resources of Australia Ltd said on Tuesday its expects reduced uranium production in the second quarter due to problems associated with heavy rains. It said rain water had pooled at its main Ranger mine pit in northern Australia, restricting access to higher grade ore………

…….ERA's stock initially dropped around 3 percent on the news.

………….there still is restricted access to higher grade ore mostly at the bottom of the pit, which would remain the case until near the end of the second quarter. Stockpiled ore would be milled in the mean time, it said.....................".

PRESS DIGEST-Australian Business News - April 16 - "Rio Tinto -owned uranium miner Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) yesterday reported a 15 percent decline in production for the March quarter, with analysts expecting more problems in coming months.

ERA's share price fell 1.1 percent to A$20.08 on the news, as the uranium spot price fell further.............................."

Earning with ethics THE AUSTRALIAN Glenda Korporaal April 02, 2008 - "……………………Ethical investment is one of the major selling points of his $2.3 billion stable of funds, which include the $1.4 billion Hunter Hall Value Growth Trust, the $540 million Hunter Hall Global Ethical Trust, the $111 million Hunter Hall Australian Value Trust and his brand new $8 million Hunter Hall Global Deep Green Trust. ..............Hunter Hall argues that 'ethical investing' can be combined with delivering good returns for investors.

How do you define "ethical investing"?
The broad definition is that we seek to avoid investing in activities that cause harm to people or which are destructive to the environment or cruel to animals. We have a 'negative screening' process for our funds which seeks to avoid companies involved in things such as armaments, gambling, tobacco, nuclear energy, uranium mining, factory farming and logging non-plantation timber............".

Green, but under the thumb Money Management By Mike Taylor 20 March 08

"The Australian Conservation Foundation has called on government-controlled funds, including the Future Fund, to make responsible investing an integral part of their strategies. The ACF released new research at the Conference of Major Superannuation Funds that found many of Australia's large government-run funds were making investment decisions that directly conflicted with publicly-stated government policy to reduce emissions and tackle climate change.

ACF executive Don Henry said that with so much emphasis being placed on climate change by governments at all levels, people would be shocked to discover how many government-controlled funds were still investing $47 in fossil fuels and uranium for every dollar invested in renewable energy.............................

'Rather than invest this public money in companies building new coal-fired power stations and mining uranium, it should be invested in companies developing renewable energy and finding innovative ways to use energy efficiently'

Henry claimed government funds that did not manage environmental risks in their portfolios put at risk their financial returns and 'the world we will leave for our kids'..........................................................".

figures in the diagram - from Time for Government Investments to Go Green Crikey 18 March 2008

Appetite for yellowcake stocks wanes THE AUSTRALIAN Business Robin Bromby March 03, 2008 - "STICK a fork in the uranium share frenzy - it's done.
Now even the more favoured stocks in the sector are getting hammered. Take Toro Energy. It went as high as $1.28 last year; on Friday it closed at 27c. Toro acquired some great projects by taking over Nova Energy but those are in Western Australia, and now perhaps the market is - rightly - taking a more sober view of that state's obduracy on the subject of uranium mining.

Then there's Curnamona Energy - $2.85 last April; its last sale was 60c. Or Uranium Equities, which has fallen from 90c over the same period to 14.5c. ……………

…………How about Northern Territory explorer Uramet Minerals? On Thursday its price fell by 18 per cent - on a single share trade going through at 9c. ……………

………..Another company happy to quit uranium ground is Empire Resources. It has sold off for $1.75 million its Yarlarweelor uranium project northwest of Wiluna to a new float Radon Resources (good luck with that) and will use the money on its copper and gold projects. …………….The penny clearly has dropped for some Icon shareholders who sent the stock from 20c the previous week to 16c by Friday........................................................".

BHP Billiton shareholders call for moral stand on lucrative trade Jan Mayman in Perth
Monday October 1, 2007
The Guardian The world's biggest mining company is facing a revolt from shareholders who want the group to stop excavating uranium.
Activist plan to use the annual meeting of BHP Billiton, which last year made record-breaking profits of $13.4bn (£6.7bn), to force the company to take a "moral stand" and pull out of the highly profitable trade in uranium,

Led by John Poppins, a retired engineer whose family controls more than A$1m (£434,000) worth of stock in the company, the BHP Billiton Shareholders for Social Responsibilities group hope to enlist support from conservationists, churches and unions on the shareholder register.

Mr Poppins has 60 of the 100 signatures he needs to get the issue on the agenda of the AGM in Adelaide next month, with more pledged.BHP Billiton's outstanding commercial success and market pre-eminence carries an equally large moral obligation to provide leadership on issues of uranium production and nuclear proliferation,' he said..........

.........He is concerned that the Australian government has recently declared its support for uranium sales to Russia and India. And the notion that uranium was a clean fuel was wrong, he said. 'Claims that uranium is 'carbon-free' completely ignore the substantial carbon costs of its mining, processing, power station construction, protection and disposal,'he said.
Mr Poppins was an engineer in computing and aviation before retiring to take up ethical investment issues............................."

BHP hype reaches Olympic proportions The Australian John Durie 26 Sept 07 - "The most over-hyped annual report in decades, this morning's missive from BHP Billiton, produced the classic stock market trading tactic - buy the rumour and sell the fact.
Even the almost doubling of the resource base at the company's Olympic Dam mine site in South Australia fell below the wildest rumours circulated earlier in the week and as impressive as the numbers were, in the words of Credit Suisse analyst Peter O'Connor, the report was 'an anti-climax'...........

...........the rapid increase in its stock price ahead of the report was driven by offshore buyers, particularly in the UK. Once again other factors were at play because the UK investors were simply selling banks amid the US sub-prime crisis and buying something else, which this time was the big resources companies like BHP and RIO.

.......................................Retiring chief executive Chip Goodyear leaves the company with around $60 million in shares, which should be enough to help him pay the rent while he works out where he will work next. New boss Marius Kloppers starts with a slightly higher base pay of $US1.8 million compared with Chip's old base pay of $US1.7 million, which should help Marius pay the costs of his major home renovation....................................................".

Investors warned to steer clear of nuclear - The Age -Business - Marc Moncrief 6 August 07 - "THE hunt for sustainable energy is the gold rush of our generation, says a top British-based investment strategist, and punters should invest broadly to take best advantage.......................Standard Life Investments global thematic strategist Frances Hudson.said............ she was "less optimistic" about the future of nuclear.
Ms Hudson said old technology, huge conversion costs and waste disposal plagued the industry. She was unconvinced technological advances had made nuclear safer.

'Where is the improvement coming from?'she said. "There hasn't been the investment in the technology."
Accidents in June at two German nuclear plants run by Swedish operator Vattenfall resulted in Vattenfall Europe Nuclear Energy managing director Bruno Thomauske being sacked.Then in July, an earthquake hit the world's largest nuclear plant (in terms of output) in north-western Japan. The International Atomic Energy Agency sent a six-member team to the site at the weekend to examine the damage.
Ms Hudson blamed the accidents on old technology and said such events were likely to exacerbate the political difficulties of establishing nuclear sites.........................................................'The higher risk is to buy the nuclear companies.'......................................."